Rice HS is moving from its Harlem location
For the past 10 years, Dwayne Mitchell has ended each basketball season the same way: thinking that he might have coached his final game at Rice.
Mitchell has long been worried that the school might shutter its doors because of financial struggles.
“You always hear rumors that Rice is in trouble,” said Mitchell, who was an assistant before taking over as head coach at the start of this season. “You always hear that it might close down. I’m used to it now.”
Mitchell and the school’s other teachers learned yesterday that this time, the rumors could turn out to be true.
The Board of Directors at Rice is working furiously to raise millions of dollars to finance a five-year plan to keep the Harlem school’s doors open.
If the plan fails, Rice could close its doors, and one of the city’s most storied basketball programs could be history.
Declining enrollment, combined with rising operating costs, have created a bleak financial outlook for the tiny school on W. 124th St. and Lenox Ave., which has produced such stars such as Dean Meminger, Felipe Lopez and Kemba Walker.
“Rice has been struggling over the past decade, but every year we seem to pull through,” said Stephen Fitzgerald, Rice’s chairman and a graduate of the school. “But this year feels a little different.”
Fitzgerald said the school will be moving later this year. He said he has identified a new building but declined to give its address, except to say that it’s in Harlem.
He added that his plan to sustain the school calls for student tuition to meet 60% of operating costs; the balance would come from donations and the school’s capital campaign. Rice’s tuition stands at $5,750 per year.
The school’s Board of Directors addressed the issue with faculty yesterday. Students will receive a letter today alerting them to the situation, and a public announcement will be made tomorrow.
Fitzgerald said some teachers asked if the school would consider going co-ed as a way to boost enrollment. He said such a change might be considered.
Rice, which was founded by the Congregation of Christian Brothers in 1938 and has occupied its current building since 1944, will have to be moved into a more cost-effective space if it does stay open, Fitzgerald said.
The directors would then have to find a long-term solution to the declining enrollment that has depleted the city’s Catholic schools. Only 218 students currently attend Rice, Fitzgerald said, adding that nearly 70% of the students are reared in a single-parent household.
“There are definitely things going on that have gotten some people’s attention,” said Mgavi Brathwaite, a board member who graduated from Rice in 1982 and still lives in Harlem.
“It’s definitely for real,” Brathwaite said of the potential that the school could close.
Rice has annual operating costs of more than $3 million, Fitzgerald said, noting that the school’s capital fund has been depleted by building repairs and the need to meet payroll. Teachers haven’t gotten a raise in two years, Fitzgerald said.
The school has sought donations, soliciting boosters and placing ads in such publications as the Irish Echo, Irish Voice and the Irish Examiner.
“I’m into hitting some heavy hitters,” Fitzgerald said. “I’m contacting some big rollers to do it.”
Fitzgerald looks for donations every February and March, but he’s taking a more aggressive approach this year since the future of the school is at stake.
“We need to show these donors that we have a plan, and they’re not throwing money at an empty hole,” Fitzgerald said. “There’s no sense giving money to just put a Band-Aid on the problem every year, and you know, that’s what I’ve been doing for a number of years.”
Will donations be enough to save Rice? Or will the school – and its vaunted basketball program – be closing for good?
Fitzgerald said he couldn’t answer that question right now.
“I wouldn’t be able to make a statement on that until we see what comes in,” Fitzgerald said.